Funeral of Dreams
by PenAmour
Summary: They lost in 2002 and the world collapsed under the reign of a new Kaiser. How are the Digidestined doing after their hopes turned into flames and the only option is hiding? Will they survive the pain and the darkness. Are they still dreaming?
1. Armageddon

**Funeral of Dreams**

_In the distance the tyrant's calling_

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><p><strong>Armageddon<strong>

**The conflict is reaching it's climax after the "Christmas Attacks".**** The japanese president confirmed that digital monsters - the so called Digimon - are responsible for these recent attacks in Minato, one of the 23 wards of Tokyo. Eyewitnesses reported the collapsing of the Fuji Tower, one of the town's popular landmarks... **

_Un jour triste pour les Japonais. Après qu'une armée de monstres digitaux est entrée dans la capitale Tokyo, la cité est une ruine. Il n'est pas certain combien de victimes la guerre a fait..._

Das japanische Militaer wappnet sich, um gegen die rotaeugigen Truppen in den Krieg zu ziehen, der Verteidigungsminister sprach von einer Entscheidung auf Leben und Tod…

_Madad! __Samāja Namaste…_

„We will not allow this monster to claim any leadership of our own!" This statement of the Pentagon was released while the president sent his troops to New York City to save the citizens from "an apocolypse of biblical dimensions"

**El rey n****uevo del mundo?**

Roma è in fiamme. Ira di Dio?

Человеческоекрушение

**Wir sehen uns nicht mehr im Stande, sie ueber die aktuelle Lage zu informieren. Die Welt ist im Wandel und wir koennen nur hoffen, dass der Mensch nicht untergeht… **

_Good luck to all of__ us…_

Ô mon Dieu, appuyé sur ta puissance infinie et sur tes promesses, j'espère avec une ferme confiance obtenir le pardon de mes péchés, l'assistance de ta grâce et la vie éternelle, par les mérites de Jésus Christ mon Sauveur.

**Tatsukete!**

[Dreams are locked…]

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><p><em>AN: Welcome to Funeral of Dreams…_

_I hope you will enjoy reading the soon to follow story of what could have happend if the ending of the second season was a little different..._


	2. Dreamcatcher

** Dreamcatcher **

_I'm miles from where you are,  
>I lay down on the cold ground,<br>I pray that something picks me up  
>And sets me down in your warm arms.<em>

(Snow Patrol – Set the Fire to the Third Bar)

The wind rushed over a blade of grass, whispering and whisteling while the daisies nodded their little white heads happily, as a boy with an enormous mob of brown hair reached the top of the pass. He was jumping through the air while followed by dozens of other children and a bunch of Digimon.

As they reached the meadow their laughter cut through the fresh air and shimmering butterflies soared upon the grass into the air with glowing wings.

He felt himself smiling warmly.

It was a peaceful moment that seemed like a well deserved happy ending to a very long story full of fights and adventures.

Until time stopped suddenly and the moment froze before his eyes. The laughter went silent and the butterflies hoverring motionless in the air.

Something wasn't right, he thought, as the beautiful picture vanished slowly. The big brown floppy hair, the daisies and the butterflies. They were all gone. Left him in the darkness that surrounded every inch of him.

Thunder rolled over his head like a hungry monster waiting for feeding, when little red dots appeared infront of him. It was the butterflies, trembling on the ground with twitching wings.

He could feel a cold flood around his ankles and when he looked down red waves of blood were tugging out for him and were growing bigger and bigger.

The butterflies drowned in the bloodstream and he opend his mouth, but no sound left his lips as he tried to move away from blood and death. But his body denied any reaction to his commands, so the stream fuzzed heavily around his waist.

He tried to hold onto something, his fingers ploughed through the glooming red and reached for a cold smooth stone. That was what he thought, but when he looked down on his hands a white blank skull stared back at him with big black eye sockets.

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><p>Beads of sweat burned in his eyes and left some shivering marks on his back, as he pulled himself up, breathing heavily. His eyes wandered through the dark room searching for something to help him get a grip on reality again. His hands were shaking as his feet touched the cold stony ground and his fingers got hold of the candle on the night table.<p>

It was not the first time such a dream had visited him during the night. And he knew for sure it wouldn't be the last one either.

Every night he got closer to the boy with the browny wild hair and his companions. Their faces stick in his head during the day until another dream gave him more chances to get know the children at night. Before everything turned into a nightmare.

The unfullfilled wish was torturing him and the dream's happiness seemed like a bad joke, mocking and playing cheap tricks, while the laughter echoed in his mind and reality crashed down on him once more.

The flame touched the matchstick, hissing and flickering bevore its spark reached the wick. The heat of the little flame warmed his findertips while the weak light played with the shadows, drawing woozy pictures on the grey walls as he walked through the corridors.

He could hear small whispers and heavy breaths through the sheets, which divided the car park into seperate chambers, so each of them had their private place to hide from the outside.

His temples were aching continously as he followed the dark corridors. Over his head he saw a leaky water pipe where little waterdrops hurtled through the air and landed with a loud splash in a puddle where they mingled with the stony dust of the past years.

A small breeze startled the little flame as he reached the stairs which led him to a bigger room nearer to the earth's surface.

In the middle of the room was a massive oak table that was surrounded with chairs and benches. Their cushions were scuffed and faded while on the other side of the room a cupboard-row lined against the wall.

He opend one of the doors and the hinges sqeaked.

Carefully he observed the nightly silence. Their kitchen-like commonroom was closer to the surface than their chambers, the air seemed fresher and let him forget the narrow dark corridors and rooms.

But the dark was protecting him – them. Their prison deep down garantueed their freedom. It was bizarre.

His fingers reached for a glass and he filled it with sparkling water from a worn plastic bottle. There was not much left, he realized as the cold wet filled his throat and the pain in his temples vanished silently. Eleven bottles lined up infront of him and there was not much water left in any of them.

The shelves were filled with canned food they had been accumulated in the past years, but even these supplies were limited and would run out sooner or later.

And after all it was just the two of them. Taichi and Yamato.

Taichi would not allow anyone else to risk their life, not when there was still a war going on and he needed as many people as possible.

Even if Taichi and his brother were able to loot some of the Kaiser's warehouses and plantations, it was a huge risk they were taking for some packages of rice, vegetables and medicine that were usually required for the Kaiser's slaves, to keep them alive and healthy.

To keep them useful.

It was hard to accept the situation. Even after all this time, he felt a tiny ache in his chest when thinking about all the slaves out there.

It hurt as much as the dreams did.

Silly dreams, whispering of desire and hope but of fear and memories, too. He longed for freedom and the security of a loving family, not just comrads in arms, but real friends who knew nothing about death and war at all.

Peace.

But he always woke up to find himself lying in a dark chamber between broken cars and broken dreams. The cold cellars, the waterpipes all this was his reality now, after just one moment had changed everything. One moment on this particular day.

"Don't be a fool, Takeru", he mumbled to himself and pushed the thoughts aside.

The past was the past and dreaming about happy endings would not change anything. It only made the present even more unbearable.

As he passed the dark corridors once more a thin ray of light slipped out of Sora's chamber where she was probably waiting and worrying for his brother to come home safely.

Despite understanding perfectly well how she felt he ignored the urge to comfort her and kept walking.

Cautiously he pushed the curtain, an old silky veil of one of the hotelrooms, aside and put the candle back to its place and laid down on his mattress.

A bedspring was pinching in his back so he turned around to see her small shoulders in the glow of the candle.

Today she was sleeping peacfully, no screaming or punching, just deep breaths, lifting and lowering her body. Under her grey shirt her spine was showing.

His hands stroke her pale arms as he blew out the candle and everything went dark again.

He felt her body next to him. His arms embraced here tightly and the warmth of her body was calming him down, while a strand of her hair tickled his face.

This was one of the rare moments they could be with each other, truely be with each other. Because when she was sleeping, he could not see the sorrow in her eyes and the rage that was almost freezing her. It was not a hot-headed rage but a cold and icy hatred that turned her into something he wasn't sure he could love. It almost seemed like she didn't care anymore, like her coolness had emptied her heart and filled it with anger instead.

But he couldn't leave her, maybe because he was too scared to be alone or because he was used to her. And sometimes he dared to believe that there was still whole-hearted love in both of them, when they were laughing although quieter, when they were kissing although harder, when they were talking although more reserved.

In the end it was a moment like this, when he knew he just could not leave. Moments that made him forget the anger and the pain and the whole damn world.

Moments of hope.

Moments of belief.

But in this moments it was just the two of them.

And even that was not certain.

"Takeru?" He felt how her body stiffed into stone as he blinked through the darkness and waved goodbye to the moment. She freed herself from his embrace.

"What is wrong with you?", she asked warily as her hands – painfully cold hands - touched his chest and her icefingers searched for him.

"Nothing." He got hold of the fingers and they sent nasty chills down his spine. "A dream... just a dream", he mumbled and and adjusted his pillow.

She kept quiet for a while, probably not knowing what to do.

"Let's sleep", she said after a while and shoke of his hands.

He could not see her in the darkness, but he knew that she had turned her back on him while both ot them pretended to sleep.

_Just if you don't see a future_

(Ephemere - Hopelessly)

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><p><em>AN:_

_Welcome to the first "proper" chapter of Funeral of Dreams. As you can see, the end of the second Adventure-season did not go very well... I wanted to use the ending as a "stepping stone" to introduce the story to you. So the dreamer ought to be Takeru (TK in the dub), as he is the narrator of the series, too. His relationship to the girl... let's say its kind of destination but very complicated and horrible all-consuming..._

_We follow the characters now as they are hiding – where and why? Well I'll tell you, sooner ot later. ;D_

_In case you have not noticed I am not a native speaker so feel free to correct me anytime!_

_Thanks for reading, best regards_

_PenAmour_


	3. Sidewalker

**Sidewalker**

_I walked the avenue till my legs felt like stone  
>I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone<br>At night I could hear the blood in my veins  
>Black and whispering as the rain<br>On the streets of Philadelphia_

(Bruce Springsteen – Streets of Philadelphia)

The shadows of the night vanished quietly as he strapped his rucksack on and shut the overhead door of the rusty compact van. The brass rattled with a lod clanging and Yamato gave it an angry look. Suddenly the sirens started howled alarmingly over their heads as a painfilled moarn reached him. He rushed over to the driver's cab and fired a number of shots that all hit their target. The driver wasn't moving anymore.

The only noise left was the static from the radio and hew switched it off quickly, knowing that the distress signal had allready been sent. The troops were probably leaving their bases while he was listening to the sirenes.

The wind sweeped across the city, rainy clouds scrambled high in the sky and the morning light got lost in grey shades, unable to pass the massive cloud-wall. They followed their way through the alley past the ruins of Tokyo and left the smoking vehicle behind.

The peaceful and quiet impression of the city vanished as soon as the night removed its dark cloak from the ruins. The air was thick and opaque. And the clouds were waiting while wearing their mourning dresses – waiting for the end of this tragical performance.

They reached a crossroad. Car wrecks flanked the sideways and deep craters sprawled over the asphalt. Carefully he put one foot ront in front the other, checking if the street was safe to pass.

When the attacks had tormented the city, the streets reared up while the grand buildings of Minato, one of Tokyo's wards, had already given up their ground.

He could feel the sewerage bubbling under his feet while the pores of the street spat out smoke. The buckles of his rucksack cut in his skin, small stones vibrated as he reached the other side of the street where he jumped over a broken traffic light...

From a distance he could hear the helicopters grumbling. They belonged to the Kaiser's fleet and were quite experienced in looking for him.

Yamato stood still and ruffled his sandblond hair that had untied itself from his queue as they listened to the howling once more. It told him their little visit was not gone unnoticed and the driver was found, although he himself would not tell anyone about it, the bullet in his head was speaking for itself. Or the dozens of dead bodies...

But they could not have waited for another opportunity. Their water supplies were drying up. The Kaiser's transport that was keeping his army alive and healthy seemed quite determined to keep him and the others alive, too.

The red-eyed Galgomon were no obstacle at all. He knew how to fight the Digimon off that had been ordered to protect these transports after all the humans had failed. A few wisely placed grenades and the digital monsters would be history before they could have used their automatic-pistole-like pranks at him or his best friend.

They would die with the expression of astonishment still evident on their rabbit-like faces.

As for the men – well he knew exactly how to fight his own and to his satisfaction the Kaiser knew it very well, too.

Only the driver seemed to have slipped his mind and he was paying for this failure right now.

"Let's get the hell outta here" Yamato snarled and set himself up for a lifesaving sprint. He seized for his arm and held him back.

"Wait" he whispered insistently. "We need to be careful. I bet the Kaiser's already heard of our little encounter… And I don't think he is gonna to be too happy about it. So he's gonna make sure they find us – and most importantly our hideout. Well he probably wants to rip us apart, too…"

Yamato frowned. "Oh that's just great… I told you to take Agumon and Gabumon along. More power for us…"

"…and more attention." He shook his head impatiently. "Two humans with Digimon… You know perfectly well that there are only two kinds – Those on their side and us."

He pointed at the ruins. There were fires between the boulders and the rocks and he knew they were there. Survivers, free-willed humans taking no side but their own. In the end it was the easiest way the free-willed prefered for their own – and that way could lead to great loss on his law of supply and demand...

His fingers grabbed the paper of a flyer that was spread all over town.

"Dead or alive" was the title of the poster and a warm meal and immuity were promised for handing over the culprit.

The paper crackled and a pale familiar face was staring at him. It was the face of a boy with dark eyes and a brown flowing mane. It was his face.

The cans clattered as he checked his equipment. Yamato grinned knowingly.

"A diversion?"

"A diversion!" The grenade weighed heavily in his hands as his eyes wandered over the open field. The infantry was marching closer followed by big clouds of dust.

The Kaiser was angry, that much was clear...

It wasn't the first time they had entered one of his warehouses or attacked his transports. He needed to know that they were still alive and fighting even though he had defeated them.

The fields of the Kaiser, country regions behind Tokyo, contained many precious things like rice and vegetables that were planted to keep the slaves healthy and useful.

The fields were perfect to provide for a large group of twelve DigiDestined.

It was getting harder each time they stole from the Kaiser who wasn't relying on his human minions anymore. Fighting against Digimon was different from fighting against humans. But being able to defeat and destroy them with his hands – his human hands – seemed to scare the Kaiser. His fear satisfied him more then anything.

"We have this one chance…" he explained while his fingers clutched the grenade. "Over the Midtown-Complex, so if they follow us, we'll lead them to the opposite direction, before reaching the Roppongi-Street in the end." He did not need to say much more as Yamato understood him perfectly without so many words.

Even the free-willed knew something was wrong and their fires went out immediatly as they moved quickly. Some of them got lost between the craters.

Yamato started running as he threw the grenade. The free-willed raised their heads so he could see their pale, thin faces and the snarled hair as the storey exloded and tore the pavement apart. Shreds of asphalt swirled through the air and the helicopert's headlights turned towards the explosion.

He ran. His steps echoed on the ground as the screams died away. The concrete piers of the skyscrapers groaned and rubble fluttered on him like snowflakes. His lungs seemed to burn like they were about to be ripped apart. The sirenes jarred through the alleys not too far away. They had a few minutes, at most...

Yamato swung his body over a barrier while his hair was dancing with the wind and he vanished into a backstreet.

They knew the city like the back of their hands. They had searched every corner, tried every bolthole and determined safe ways for their expedition tours. He knew their escape routes inside out, knew how to overcome every obstacle and which path to use to evade the eyes of the Kaiser.

He followed his best friend as a tile fell from a roof and bursted into thousands of pieces. His hand surrounded the trigger of his weapon but as his eyes moved to the roof he could see a tiny black cat that did not dare to budge. It mewed angrily, its bilious green eyes watched him intently as his fingers touched the bristly fur, covered in dirt. He could feel the bones and a flesh wound that ran over its belly. He wondered how it had survived all this time.

"Taichi!" Yamata squinnied his eyes impatiently, "For God's sake, what are you doing. The infantery is on the move and back-up is on the way to support them... what's with the cat?" The young man stared confused at the mewing cat that tried to free itself from his hands.

He didn't know what to answer as he put the animal inside his jacket and zipped it up.

Maybe it was because he was impressed by its persistence or because it seemed to be a miracle itself in this chaos.

He just could not leave it as he moved on, following Yamato to the next alley.

Quickly he hid from the light cones as the cat fidgeted under his jacket.

His legs moved automatically as though they had always been on the run.

The concrete mass of buildings blurred to streches of grey. He was so fast that is feet hardly touched the ground.

They had been playing this game for so long...

They reached their hide out at last. The howling faded as the formely crystalline _façade_ of the _Grand Hyatt Tokyo_ Hotel got within sight. The complex of buildings looked pretty dreadful. The ramshackled masonry and the former splendid glasfront of the noble hotel was nothing more than splinters of glass that seemed tired of holding onto the frames. The lobby had collapsed completly and the cracked marble floor was dusty.

The perfect reason for making this shaky, shabby hotel into a home, because what mattered was the inside...

The ruins of the _Grand Hyatt Tokyo_ were their diversion, so nobody whould think of trying to enter the runious building and find out that there was a lifesaving cellarsystem under the ground.

Yamato arrived at the former servants' entrance which layed inconspicuously at the bottom of the stairs, hidden behind a huge refuse skip.

He reached for the key in his pocket while Yamato thrust the refuse skip and revealed a heavy iron door.

It was pure luck that they had found such a secure hide out. They had never told the others how they had managed it or under which circumstances.

After the Kaiser's takeover they had tried to reside at their old elementary school in Odaiba. But the supplies were rare and their lives threatend. The Kaiser knew to much about them...

Yamato guided them with his torch through the dark corridors. They passed by the door to the hotel's kitchen that had been taken off its hingers and the chromed kitchen ware reflectet the torchlight

They followed their way through the flour past the lift shafts. The stairs that would guide them to the car park, where their sleeping chambers were located, got into their sight. But they pushed forward and the common room appeared in front of him.

"This is not gonna end well, man." Yamato's heavy breath echoed through the corridor. For now they were safe but it was only a matter of time until the next catastrophe would approach. He did not answer as they entered the common room. It was not the right time and the others did not have to know about it...

Yamato accepted his decision and kept quiet.

The cat had fought its way through his jacket and landed on the ground where it trippled nervously back and forth. Its eyes scanned the surroundings as the clatter of dishes got its attention.

"The critter will be a problem. Unnecessary work. I garantee you!" Yamato roared befor he left his rucksack on the table and put his arms around the waist of a readheaded girl that was handling a bunch of knives. He kissed her on the forhead und she smiled tiredly at him.

"How did it go?"she asked worried and her fingers wandered over his face.

He stared at the teacups before of him while the two seemed to have forgotten all about him.

"Oh, how cute!" Sora kneed infront of the cat and patted the black fur.

"Found it – her, I guess – in the ruins", he answered her wordless question and Yamato grumbled about the possible risks of keeping the cat.

"We have to give her a name, Taichi", said Sora ignoring her boyfriend's pessimism. "What about Lucky – it fits she got _very_ lucky to survive like that..."

"Well, I would not necessary call it luck". He cocked his eyebrow.

"Jinx" He turned to leave for his bedroom. "Jinx is better."

_Just if you don't see a future_

_And your dreams are falling down_

(Ephemere – Hopelessly)

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><p><em>AN:_

_I am awefully sorry for the delay – so much happend in the last few weeks – not to mention Harry Potter or Pottermore..._

_Anyway here is the new chapter in which we follow Taichi._

_We are in the middle of Tokyo – well what's left of the city – more precisely Roppongi, Minato – one of the 23 wards of Tokyo. Yamato and Taichi are doing everything to get supplies for the group – not afraid of smirching their hands... _

_I think it is more realistic if the DigiDestined acquired some fighting skills – how else would they have been able to survive? It seems like the Digimon are not with them all the time, so they have to use whats left – like weapons and stuff... _

_The Grand Hyuatt does actually exist – I don't know if it has a car park but yeah this Hotel is taken from real life :D_

_Taichi is warrior, a sidewalker and a leader. The kind of leader even his greatest enemy is afraid of. _

_Why did he get the prominent role of the big leader, you might ask? Well he is quite a frightening Badass I guess..._

_I like Yamato and Taichi – as friends, their dynamic is just super interesting to write about – especially when it comes to a certain readheaded girl..._

_But that is another story..._

_Thanks for reading, best regards_

_PenAmour_


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